ElevenLabs: Deepfakes, Darth Vader and How to Know If You Are Speaking to AI

ElevenLabs: Deepfakes, Darth Vader and How to Know If You Are Speaking to AIAI can now clone a human voice so well that you might not realise you are talking to a machine. So how do you know who, or what, is really on the other end of the line? In this episode of Trust Issues, host Ailish McLaughlin sits down with Louise Meyer-Schönherr from ElevenLabs, one of the fastest growing AI voice companies in the world, to unpack how AI voice technology actually works, where you are already encountering it, and how to protect yourself from voice deepfakes and scams.ElevenLabs builds the text-to-speech, speech-to-text and voice agent models behind a huge amount of the AI audio you hear every day. That includes dubbed YouTube videos, AI-narrated podcasts on Spotify, Darth Vader in Fortnite, and the voice assistants inside apps like Revolut and Klarna. Louise breaks down what voice cloning is, how ElevenLabs combines its voice models with large language models to build conversational AI agents, and the safety guardrails (watermarking, no-go voices, verification and moderation) designed to stop bad actors.We also get into the big trust questions: the Joe Biden voice deepfake, whether AI voice is coming for voice actors' jobs, what happens to your data when you speak to an AI agent, and a simple trick for working out whether you are on a call with a human or an AI.Whether you run a small business and are curious about AI receptionists, you are a creator thinking about audiobooks and dubbing, or you just want to stay discerning in an AI world, this one is for you.In this episode:What ElevenLabs is and what voice AI actually doesHow AI voice cloning and text-to-speech workWhere you are already hearing AI voices (Spotify, YouTube, Fortnite, Revolut, Klarna)Voice deepfakes, the Joe Biden calls, and how ElevenLabs blocks "no-go" voicesHow to tell if you are speaking to a human or an AIWhat happens to your data when you talk to a voice agentAre AI voices a threat to voice actors?ElevenLabs' mission to give one million people their voice backHow small businesses can use AI voice agents for reception, bookings and supportThe future of voice as the primary interface for technologyGuest: Louise Meyer-Schönherr, ElevenLabs · Host: Ailish McLaughlinTrust Issues is the podcast about AI, bias, trust and discernment.